Electron Microscopy Solutions for NanoResearch - FEI Company

Nano Research
New Era
New Rules
New Microscopes

R e s e a r c h
Nanotechnology
The next big thing
Much that occurs in the macro-world of our
everyday experience is ultimately determined
by processes and phenomena that operate
on the nanoscale - the scale of individual at-
oms and molecules, and the forces that act
between them. This realization itself is not
new. What is new is the growing collection of
tools that allows us to explore and manipulate
our world at this fundamental scale - Tools
for Nanotech. This realization, these tools,
and the creativity and ingenuity of individual
researchers and their organizations together
constitute the Nanotechnology Revolution -
the next big thing.
Nanotechnology has the potential to impact
nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Practi-
cal applications already exist, from stain-re-
sistant fabrics to scratch-resistant automotive
coatings, but these are only the beginning.
Researchers are exploring new applications
in chemistry, materials, space, energy, infor-
mation, communication, transportation, and
conservation. Some of these new applications
will create new industries or radically change
existing ones. New industries will create new
economies, pose new dangers and ultimately
reweave the very fabric of our societies.

Our future is driven by your challenges
Nanotechnology is a broad term - some might say too broad
- and its breadth creates a unique set of challenges for those
who would work there. It is by nature multidisciplinary, and
success requires collaboration across traditionally separate
fields of knowledge. At FEI Company we embrace this col-
laborative model at every level. It shapes our organization,
directs our research, informs our new product development,
designs our facilities, and directs our communications. One
example is our network of “NanoPorts”, expressly designed
to seek out opportunities to work with our customers to
understand and solve their research problems. At the other
end of the scale, in the design of hardware and software, we
strive to incorporate networking, communication and data
sharing capabilities at every level.
At FEI we make the invisible visible - so that your work advances
and your organization succeeds.
We are FEI Company
At FEI we know that our success depends on yours, and you, in turn, rely on the quality and reliability of the tools we
provide. The nano revolution is still young, and though its promise is widely recognized, so too are its risks. Successful
execution on early opportunities can provide huge rewards, but such enterprises are fraught with uncertainties and there
are plenty of competitors waiting to capitalize on mistakes. The selection of your most fundamental tools will be among
the most important decisions you will make.
Of course the tools you select must provide the best possible performance against the criteria you define today, but
equally important they must have the flexibility and expandability to address the requirements you won’t discover until
tomorrow. No system that you buy today can possibly accommodate all possible future needs. So, in choosing a system
you are also choosing a partner, one that you will need to rely on for the life of the instrument, not only to support its
current capabilities but also to develop new capabilities to address needs that are as yet unknown.
Our desire to meet future needs does not reduce our commitment to current needs. Quality and reliability are built into
our products at every level and our global service organization is second to none. We offer extensive training programs
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Dr. Richard Smalley, 1996 Chemistry Nobel prize winner, first started to relate
nanotechnology with challenges facing humanity. The figure above names
key problems and challenges of today’s society that could be improved or
solved with the use of nanotechnologies.
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Our heritage of
technical leadership,
our commitment to
collaborative product
development, and
the demonstrably
superior performance
of our
products combine
to make FEI your
best choice in
Tools for
Nanotechnology.
The image was taken by Robert Best for
Alasdair Wilson, both of the Advanced
Materials Research Institute, UK.

We are FEI Company
We make Tools for Nanotech - scanning and transmission electron mi-
croscopes (SEM and TEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) systems - that
allow you to visualize, analyze and manipulate your world at the nano
scale. We are a global technology company with more than 6 decades
of leadership in imaging and analytical instrumentation. Throughout
that time we have been pioneers in our chosen technologies, introduc-
ing one of the first commercial TEMs in 1949, and the first DualBeam
(FIB/SEM) system in 1993. Our new Titan S/TEM offers the best imaging
resolution available today, 0.7 Ångström, sufficient to resolve individual
atoms in many materials.
We are determined to continue to lead our industry and we know that to
do so we must nurture and maintain relationships with leading scientists
and research organizations among our customers. The knowledge net-
work that this approach creates is a resource that works both ways, pro-
viding us with an awareness of current and future needs in the research
marketplace, and our customers with access to knowledge and solutions
across a broad range of applications. Together with our customers we
strive to be thought-leaders, offering creative and innovative solutions
that will drive the continuing development of nanotechnology.
Continuous innovation
Technology waits for no one. Our desire to play a leading role in the
development of nanotechnology requires that we embrace a culture of
continuous innovation. The leading edge of a revolutionary technology
is not often a comfortable place to be, but a willingness to accept risk
is the ante to play in this high-stakes game. Breakthrough results are
seldom discovered along a well trodden path.
Our new Titan S/TEM, which offers unprecedented improvement in
image resolution, is a case-in-point. Though the aberration correction
technology that underlies the improvement is well known, FEI alone
took the risk of incor
porating it in a new TEM. As a result the Titan offers directly interpre-
table image resolution 2 to 3 times better than uncorrected TEMs.
As is often the case, innovation begets innovation. The incorporation of
aberration correctors permits the design of larger lenses which in turn
allows room for new technologies that maintain or control the sample
environment. We can use this freedom to expand the types of samples
and in situ procedures possible in an electron microscope. We want
to relieve the researcher of the burden of adapting the sample to the
microscope - instead, adapting the microscope to the sample.
NanoPort
FEI’s unique NanoPorts, located
in the Netherlands, the United
States, and Japan, are tangible
evidence of our commitment to
customer-centered collaboration.
They provide a direct conduit
for customer involvement in our
development, engineering, training,
testing and demonstration
activities.
Titan 80-300
The Titan microscope incorporates
a newly designed platform
dedicated to the principles of
ultimate stability, ultimate performance
and ultimate flexibility
for corrector and monochromator
technology and its applications.
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With FEI’s tools for
NanoResearch
FEI offers a range of Tools for
Nanotech, each with particular strengths
in a range of applications. NanoResearch
applications may be roughly grouped
into 5 categories: material qualifi cation,
material and tool preparation, prototyping,
metrology, and device testing and
characterization
• SEMs like the Quanta FEG can
visualize surface topography with
a resolution of 1 - 2 nm resolution
• The Nova NanoSEM improves on
the resolution of the Quanta by using
an “immersion” type objective lens
• Nova NanoLab combines high
resolution SEM imaging with a FIB
for cutting sample cross sections that
reveal subsurface features
• Helios NanoLab is the next
generation DualBeam, providing
resolution to the sub-nanometer level,
producing the thinnest samples of the
highest quality
• Tecnai TEMs are research grade
instruments that offer sub-Ångström
information limits in a wide variety of
lens confi gurations
• The Titan S/TEM offers aberration
correctors for directly interpretable,
sub-Ångström image resolution.
Quanta FEG
Nova NanoSEM
Nova NanoLab
Helios NanoLab
Tecnai TEM
Titan 80-300
SEM/ESEM
SEM-FIB
TEM/STEM
Materials & Device
Characterization
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Sample Preparation
and Manipulation
Nano
Metrology
courtesy:
Weizmann Institute
Nano Preparation
and Fabrication
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NanoResearch requirements
The rapid pace of innovation in nanotechnology places
a premium on certain aspects of overall system design.
These concepts receive high priority in FEI tools:
8
• Capability
meet the immediate needs of existing
or anticipated projects
• Flexibility
adapt to a broad range of requirements
without additional hardware/software
• Modularity
add capability as required without replacing
the base system, thus preserving the long-term
value of the initial investment
• Productivity
generate more value faster.
• Connectivity
enhance communication within the
system, across the lab or around the world
• Compatibility
extend the range of samples and
experimental conditions

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Key capabilities
• Visualize
The primary requirement for any microscope is certainly
resolution. TEM manufacturers talk about two kinds of
resolution: image resolution (or point resolution) that
can be directly interpreted from an image, and the
information limit, the finest detail that can be trans-
ferred by the optical system, though not directly observ-
able because of lens aberrations. Aberration correctors
bring image resolution down to the information limit,
making the full resolving power of the microscope
directly observable in the images it produces.
• Analyze
Analytical resolution is often as important as imaging
resolution. Analytical resolution (for energy loss spec-
A heritage of innovation
• DualBeam
FEI invented the DualBeam, in which an SEM column
is positioned to image the face of a cross section milled
by a focused ion beam. Cross sections reveal subsurface
structure and with automated “slice and view” routines
can recreate three dimensional models from sequential
slices.
• ESEM
FEI pioneered the ESEM (Environmental SEM) which
permits direct observation of wet, contaminating, non-
conductive samples.
• Aberration correctors
The Titan is the first TEM to be designed specifically
for spherical aberration correctors, breaking once and
for all the 1 Ångström barrier for directly interpretable
image resolution..
• Monochromator
The Titan also incorporates monochromator technology
to reduce chromatic aberrations and improve the energy
resolution of electron energy loss spectrometry (EELS).
troscopy) depends on the energy distribution of the
beam and the spectrometer’s ability to resolve the
energy of transmitted electrons.
• Manipulate and control
Ultimately we want to manipulate the sample on the
nano-scale in an environment of our choosing. Ion
beams can remove or deposit material with nano-scale
precision. Specialized vacuum and detector technologies
permit the use of non-high-vacuum environments that
accommodate a wider range of samples and permit
observations of samples in a natural or controlled
experimental environment, and allow the introduction
of selected gases that work with the electron or ion
beam to modify the sample.
• Tomography
Automatically acquired rotational sequences of 2D
TEM projections are mathematically combined into 3D
models.
• Gas chemistry
Designer gases introduced into the ion or electron beam
path can selectively accelerate material removal or
deposition to create structure with nano-scale control.
• Automation
Automated setup, data acquisition, image processing,
3D modeling, and compositional analysis vastly improve
productivity and reliability, and reduce requirements for
operator training and expertise.

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04MB_OT0111 08_06
©2006. We are constantly improving the performance of our products,
so all specifications are subject to change without notice. The FEI logo,
Tools for Nanotech, Quanta, Nova, Helios NanoLab, Tecnai, and Titan,
are trademarks of FEI Company. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft
Corporation.